ClotCare is a member organization of the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis. Click here to learn more about the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and DVT Awareness Month, which is held each March.

The recent PREVENT and ELATE trials addressed the question of duration of anticoagulation therapy in patients with idiopathic venous thrombotic events (VTE). But what about the duration of anticoagulation therapy in patients with VTE associated with a predisposing acute event? This small study attempted to explore whether any differences in symptomatic VTE or bleeding occurred when treating a VTE with warfarin for either 1 month, or 3 months. Patients with known hypercoagulable states were excluded. The yearly rate of symptomatic VTE was higher in the 84 patients receiving 1 month of therapy (6.8%/yr) versus 81 receiving 3 months (3.2%/yr). No major bleeding was observed in either group. Of note is that additional events separating the two groups did not occur until 5 months post initiation of therapy, and that the observed VTE rates were higher then initially expected. The authors concluded that duration of anticoagulation therapy for VTE provoked by a transient risk factor should not be reduced from 3 months to 1 month.